-Boom!
As my eyes flickered open, a deluge of bricks tumbled down before with a resounding crash.
Huh?
This puzzled exclamation slipped out as a figure from behind propelled forcefully onto my stomach.
What the hell...!
I attempted to swivel my head to identify my assailant, but...
-Boom!
Before I managed, another explosion, trailed by a massive tremor, engulfed . It felt as though a bomb had detonated just inches from my face. Startled, I flattened myself even more against the ground.
Soon, the tremors dwindled and the ringing in my ears began to abate. I gingerly raised my head to examine my surroundings. What was going on?
Before stretched a colossal brick fortification. Fires raged sporadically with plus of smoke billowing out, cries and screams echoing all around.
The fortification wall adjacent to was dissolving, as if liquefied by intense heat. Evidently, sothing akin to a bomb had gone off.
What on earth is happening...?
With a fearful mutter, I scanned the scene.
Individuals, donned in blood-drenched armor, scurried in all directions.
Cannons mounted on the fortification walls spewed fire in repetitive salvos, while people frantically brandished swords and loosed arrows over the walls.
What threat lay beyond those walls warranting such desperate retaliation? Hesitantly, I craned my neck to see.
And beyond the walls were,
...!
Monsters.
Skreee-!
Beasts resembling gargantuan spiders, significantly larger than humans, sward over the fortifications in a relentless wave, their chilling cries reverberating in the air.
There had to be hundreds, no, thousands of them.
Incredulous, I stood frozen.
What on earth is this?
Is this so sort of dream? Or a hallucination triggered by sothing I ate...?
You can deny the reality all you want, but isnt that a bit clich, Your Highness?
A grumbling voice erged from behind . It mustve belonged to the person who had pushed to the ground. I spun around, dazed.
There he was, a familiar young man.
"...Hmm?"
A remarkably handso face looming close to mine in the midst of this horrifying battlefield only added to my disorientation.
The proximity was too overwhelming. I wished hed give so breathing room.
Beneath his shimring blond hair, his bright blue eyes sparkled. His muscular fra was evident beneath his leather armor.
He bore an uncanny resemblance to a protagonist. Yes, just like a protagonist, but...
Hold on.
"...Lucas?"
Unconsciously, I found myself pointing at the striking man.
The resemblance was uncanny. He looked exactly like Lucas, the protagonist of , the ga I had been engrossed in just a little while ago.
The blond young man looked taken aback.
"So, you finally rembered my na. And here I thought youd forgotten , despite my faithful service as your knight escort.
Uh... what?
Really, Lucas?
Wait a mont, if thats true... Does this an Im in...
-Boom!
Once more, sothing careened in, causing a section of the fortification to crumble. I let out a scream and rolled on the ground. Sobody, please save !
My screams of agony echoed in the air as I writhed on the ground. Please, soone, save !
Lucas, his teeth clenched, rushed over and hoisted up with force.
"Since youve likely forgotten again, let remind you! Were up against the Black Spider Legion! Two hundred heavily armored siege units and nine hundred close-combat assault units! Our forward base is on the brink of collapse!"
"Uh-uh, uhhhhhh."
I was so overwheld I could barely articulate a response.
The Black Spider Legion was a breed of monster from "Defend the Empire". They were notorious for ruthlessly tornting players from mid-ga onwards.
Lucas issued a growl as his gaze swept over the fortress wall.
"But these damn creatures dont function at sunset! The sun will set in about 30 minutes! How many tis have I told you to remain inside the base buildings then...!"
It dawned on then that the bombardnt we were enduring was the siege attack from the Black Spider Legion.
-Boom!
-Crash!
Sparks flew in every direction, walls lted away, and the soldiers on the ramparts fell one after another, blood spraying everywhere.
"Damn it, this way!"
Lucas practically hoisted up and dragged into the base.
Despite the scorched and crumbling buildings within the base, it was a stark improvent from the nightmare outside.
After gently setting down indoors, Lucas bellowed.
"Stay here until sunset! Dont you dare step outside! Understood?"
"Uh-uh, yeah..."
I sohow managed a response.
"Thanks, Lucas..."
"...?"
Lucas shot a puzzled glance before darting back toward the wall.
What was with him? Was a simple thank you really that strange? What exactly was our relationship?
"Hmm."
I brushed off the dirt from my waist, a result of all the rolling, and looked around. I needed to understand the situation at hand.
"Ugh..."
"It hurts, it hurts so much..."
The base buildings were teeming with injured soldiers.
Their bodies were tightly bound with blood-soaked bandages, and their groans of pain filled the air. Each ti the monsters cries echoed from outside, they squird in terror.
But sothing seed to instill greater fear in the soldiers than the monsters.
"Yikes?!"
"Your, Your Highness?!"
...It was .
As I approached the wounded soldiers, they recoiled in unison, laying flat on the ground.
"Were sorry! Were sorry! We have nothing to say!"
"Were despicable for resting with such minor injuries! Well return to the battlefield, please spare us the execution!"
Execution?
What on earth were they talking about? I frantically waved my hands.
"No, you all seem hurt, I just wanted to help..."
"Do you intend to end our suffering by killing us?!"
"These injuries are nothing! Well return to the frontlines imdiately! Ahhhhh!"
Before I could utter a response, the injured soldiers made their way toward the fortress walls.
"..."
Dumbfounded, I stood there, surveying the suddenly vacant building.
"...What the hell?"
First things first, stay calm. Whether this is a dream or reality, I need to maintain composure.
The vacant room housed a lone chair. Without much thought, I flopped into it, massaging my throbbing forehead. I needed to organize my thoughts.
Firstly, as preposterous as it may sound.
I was trapped within the world of Protect the Empire.
Yes, the very sa ga that I had recently conquered on the most challenging level.
The existence of the protagonist, Lucas, and the signature monsters, the Black Spider Legion, left no room for doubt.
I had no inkling of how I wound up here, but that was the current reality.
So then, who am I in this place?
I wasnt the RetroAddict who earned a living by live streaming gas in the real world. That detail seed irrelevant now.
"Are you feeling any better, Your Highness?"
The people here addressed as such.
Lucas, who had poked his head into the building from outside, asked . I offered a weak nod.
"Uh, I think Im okay..."
"The sunset has started. The Black Spider Legion is beginning to withdraw. Theyll likely set up a blockade soon."
Lucas, wiping the blood sared on his cheek, let out a sigh.
"Sohow, weve survived yet another day. Who can predict what tomorrow brings..."
My eyes settled on Lucas face.
Observing him in the flesh, as opposed to the pixelated figure on my computer screen, felt both astounding and peculiar.
But there were matters of greater importance than scrutinizing a mans face. I slowly rose from the chair.
"Lucas, what about the wounded?"
"Huh?"
"I an, the wounded soldiers who were in this room. They all scattered when I walked in. Where are they now?"
"They all ran out at your entrance, so theyre stationed at the wall now."
The color drained from Lucas face.
"Your Highness. Did the soldiers offend you in so way?"
"No, its not that."
"Please pardon them. Any soldier capable of wielding a weapon is invaluable right now. We can only maintain morale by executing soldiers up to a certain extent..."
"No, I said I wont execute them! I wont take their lives! Why does everyone perceive as a murderous tyrant who slays people as easily as swatting flies?!"
At my outburst, Lucas eyes bulged as though he had just experienced an epiphany.
Cold sweat trickled down my back. Was it really true? Was I that type of person? The kind who guillotines subordinates for amusent?
"Listen, I wont harm them... Let them rest here."
Lucas looked at , confusion etched on his face.
"Huh?"
"Sunset is nearing. It will get cold soon. Light the stove and let the injured rest here. They need to recuperate if they are to fight tomorrow."
"Uh...okay..."
"And you, we need to talk."
As I stepped outside, Lucas voice trembled as he spoke to .
"Your Highness, perhaps..."
"Hmm?"
"Will you be executing instead of the soldiers?"
"No, I wont kill anyone, Ive told you already!"
Just who on earth had I been?
***
The gusts howling across the city walls were frigid.
They swept across my face, a bone-chilling winter wind.
And the wind of the night. Coldness was expected, but there was an additional elent.
"..."
Gradually, I took in my surroundings.
Death.
Death was ubiquitous. Monster carcasses were piled beneath the wall, and human bodies strewn on top.
The aura of death radiated a cold far sharper than the winter or night.
"Lucas, whats the ti now, and where are we?"
I asked, standing at the edge of the wall, struggling to suppress the nausea brought on by the overpowering stench of blood.
Lucas, stationed behind , appeared confused by my question, but he responded distinctly.
"It is the final day of February in the year 649 of the Empire. We are at the forward base of the fortress city of Crossroad."
"...So tomorrow would be the first day of March, 649."
"Thats correct."
I gritted my teeth.
Year 649 of the Empire, March 1st. Monster frontline base.
A very familiar ti and place.
Why wouldnt it be? Over the last six months, while engrossed in Protect the Empire, I had to play the tutorial at this ti and place hundreds of tis.
So thats why the situation felt so eerily familiar...
I had conquered Protect the Empire on Hell mode with Ironman mode activated.
Ironman mode permitted only a single save slot throughout the ga.
And the ga automatically overwrote progress onto that slot. This ant that save scumming was out of the question.
But what if the entire ga situation beca an insurmountable challenge?
You had to abandon the current ga and begin anew.
Viewers nicknad this process of restarting from the beginning a new Earth or a new Empire. I maintained a tally of the number of restarts.
And the ti I completed the ga was on the 742nd Earth.
Which ant I had failed 741 tis, and replayed the tutorial map 742 tis. I couldnt help but know the tutorial like the back of my hand.
Tomorrow, the prologue of Protect the Empire, the tutorial stage kicks off.
The tutorial is straightforward.
It introduces the world and the gas control system, and...
Everyone except Lucas ets their end.
"..."
I had glossed over the storyline hundreds of tis, but recalling it now, I rembered everything.
Simultaneously, I also recognized who I was.
"So, I am Ash."
"Pardon ?"
"My na. Ash. Ash Born Hater Everblack." (TL Note: His nickna in Korean is and in English we just call them haters. Much like Taylor Swift has a song about haters, theres a Korean song about them too: /watch?v=3s1jaFDrp5M)
Lucas gazed at as though I was stating sothing self-evident, but I was deadly serious. I gritted my teeth and tugged at my hair.
"Why did it have to be this despicable character of all people?!"
The Empires maniac, the Third Prince.
The most incompetent leader who foolishly dragged the majority of the fortress citys forces to the forward base, leading to their complete wipeout.
And, the character who endures the most horrifying end in the tutorial.
Ash Born Hater Everblack.
In the main ga, hes a minor character, a throwaway extra who dies as soon as he appears.
I was yanked into this ga world, and of all people, I have to be this bastard?
That was the exact mont I grasped the identity of my self.
-Ding!
A familiar, albeit cheap, sound effect echoed, and a transparent window materialized before my eyes.
[STAGE 0]
Objective: Survive the monster onslaught
Reward: ???
It was a system window I had seen countless tis before.
Indeed, it was identical to the interface of Protect the Empire, the ga I was imrsed in just monts ago.
"..."
Thats when it truly hit .
I had indeed been thrust into the world of the ga,
And this ga was an absolute piece of shit.
"Uh, Your Highness. Are you okay?"
Lucas gazed at with concern as I blankly stared into the void.
"...Lucas."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I rigidly turned my head towards Lucas, and I whispered in a hushed tone.
It was a sentence delivered with passion, sincerity, and intensity.
"Were fucked, fuck."
Reviews
All reviews (0)